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Rich Franklin is scaling back on his fighting career

After a year on the sidelines, Rich Franklin is looking for one last fight before he ends his career.

By Zane Simon
Jeff Vinnick/Zuffa LLC

Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin appeared on AXS TV recently to talk about winding down his UFC career. Back in May he was talking about taking another couple of fights before looking to hang up his gloves, but now it sounds like he sees the end as being a little nearer, telling AXS TV that he'd like one last fight before ending his career.

"You know, I lost my last fight, and that really kind of solidified my decision to make this my last fight coming up. I know that took me out of title contention and so for me to get back into the title hunt would be a couple years' worth of work and I know that. I'm 39, I'll be 40 next year and it's getting to the point where it's late in my life and it's really too late to have that title run so I started questioning, what am I really fighting for, if I can't make it to the title anymore? I know I'm not in title contention anymore and I realize that so, that's how it is."

Win or lose, Franklin should be remembered as one of the best fighters of his generation, with wins over Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, and Evan Tanner sprinkled among a 13 year career at the highest levels of the sport. While his championship run may not have been particularly memorable for it's length or his opponents it represents a pinnacle of achievement that few other fighters in this sport can claim.

Post fighting it looks like he's going into the health food industry as he's been working to open a chain of juice bars in the Los Angeles area. He's already got the Mike Dolce seal of approval, so who knows? Maybe we'll all be drinking Franklin's ZeLin brand juice before long.

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